The difference between whitened data and encrypted data is that you can decode the whitened data if you have the correct receiver. Encryption uses a key so that you also need the correct key.
You may not have a receiver for say FT8 that I may be transmitting, but you're also transmitting in Morse code which I never learned. Nothing is stopping either of us from receiving the other's transmission if we want to.
I'm told there was been an explosion of digital modes and it is a real concern that if there are so many undocumented or hard to identify ones, it's effectively encryption. Perhaps a future rule change will address this.
Proprietary modes have never been illegal though. You can buy a receiver just like I can study morse code.
At the end of the day nobody gives a shit though. The technical hams care more about their freedom to do cool stuff and the majority would just as fast try to decode their own power supply spurs because they're messages from aliens.
You may not have a receiver for say FT8 that I may be transmitting, but you're also transmitting in Morse code which I never learned. Nothing is stopping either of us from receiving the other's transmission if we want to.
I'm told there was been an explosion of digital modes and it is a real concern that if there are so many undocumented or hard to identify ones, it's effectively encryption. Perhaps a future rule change will address this.
Proprietary modes have never been illegal though. You can buy a receiver just like I can study morse code.